“Let me start by saying I love some stuff Benjamin Percy has written. I DO think that there’s a definite trend, which is that prose fiction writers don’t always put together the best comics.
Ollie Queen is the oldest old-school social justice warrior of all time (his term, not mine). It sorta makes sense that he’d still be in that camp, maybe updated. But then him and Black Canary bone down, and then afterward he shows Black Canary all the charity shit he’s done, and then she gets pissed off and leaves. Granted, showing off your charitable stuff is weird. That’d be like me saving email receipts for charitable donations and then getting laid off of it. But on the other hand, she’s giving him a lot of crap for being “the man,” so I don’t know what else he’s supposed to do. This relationship makes no sense until you remember, “Oh, yeah. This is a thing from the movies.” Sometime, usually in the second act, you’ve gotta pit two characters against each other for no real reason, or break up a couple, or have friends sort of split apart. Because we need something to heighten the drama. But it doesn’t really work here. It seems very inorganic and unexplained. Why would she like him before, leave him then, and then like him again later when he’s the same dude? Why now?
The politics…feel a little forced. Human trafficking of people experiencing homelessness…okay, that makes sense. But they’re being trafficked by this, well, Brotherhood Of Evil Bankers, I guess, who then take the kidnapped folks and burn off all their skin? Which somehow makes them part of the Brotherhood now? I didn’t quite get it. And I think the juxtaposition of something like human trafficking with this idea that seemed kinda silly, I think it didn’t work so well for me. What exactly are they doing on their bizarre, techno-vagina offshore base with all of these dudes who are basically melted? What’s the labor force doing out there? And why were they auctioning some and melting some? How was that decided? It was some confusing stuff.
Also, the story towards the end (no spoilers), is sort of wrapped up in a neat little package. But like a neat little package that’s full of Swiffer refills, you kinda wish you’d just left it wrapped because the package was a lot better than the contents.”